An elimination play with loser on loser

This deal happened in last second qualifying in the National Women's Bridge League Cup, 2018, the highest level women's bridge competition in China.

Board 5
Vul: NS
Dealer: North

North East South West
Pass Pass 1♢ 4♣
X Pass 4♠ AP

Lead: ♣A

Trick North East South West
1 ♣T ♣6 ♣9 ♣A
2 ♡T ♡A ♡6 ♡3
3 ♢A ♢T ♢2 ♢K

West leads the ♣A and then shifts to ♡3. East wins with the ♡A and returns ♢T! Quite amazing shift... How to play now?

4♣ shows West holds 8 clubs. After drawing 3 round trumps, West discards 2 clubs. It is obvious that West might be 1-3-1-8 or 1-2-2-8. After running ♡, West follows 2 small ♡ which exposed all the distribution. 1-3-1-8 for West. Now the endplay becomes interesting. Assuming that ♢3 is played from the table, the contract is icy. If East follows 9 or 6(they are the same), the declarer could win with the ♢J and throw ♣Q to West, discarding a small ♢ on table(loser on loser). West has to return ♣ only. If East wins with the ♢Q, ♢9 will be finessed in next turn and ruffing ♣Q will be the entry to table. That's why ♢3 must be played rather than ♢8 and why not eliminating the ♣ just eliminating trump and heart only. East follows ♢6 carefully on the table, saying whatever you do the contract will down one...

The full deal
Board 5
Vul: NS
Dealer: North

Comments

The Premier League Final China 2018: Get professional! How a declarer became a defender

This deal happened in the last segment of The Premier League Final China 2018, PD Times VS Hengzhou. Board 8 Dealer: West Vul: None West North East South Lorenzin J.Li Bessis Z.Fu Pass Pass Pass 1♣* Pass 1♢* Pass 1NT Pass 2♡* X XX* 3♢ 3♡* Pass 4♠ AP 1♣: Precision 2♡, 3♡: Transfer Lead: ♡3 (3rd/5th) South won with the ♡A while you followed ♡J. Then the declarer crossed to the table with ♠J to lead a small ♡ from table. Now what's your plan? Who holds the ♡T and where is the ♢A become 2 serious questions. First, 3♢ indicates that West holds 4 ...

Saturday Training: Leading analysis

This deal happened in termly Saturday training. Card distribution analysis was always a commonplace in my blog. Now, it was still worth to be mentioned again. Board 3 Vul :N-S Dealer: South South North 1NT 3♡* 3NT AP 3♡: 4 cards ♠, choosing contract Lead: ♣7 (2nd/4th) West thought for a while and lead ♣7. East followed ♣J. It's your show time. Please start. It was ridiculous. Totally 27 points, only 6 tricks. Even if you get 4♠ and you create a winner in ♡, still 8 tricks. There was an easy way that finessing ♡K directly or hope 3-3 in ♣. How to find the best way to try all the chance became a serious problem. What comes first? For West, 3 cases, ♣97x, ♣7x or ♣97xx. Due to the period of his thinking and table sense, he hardly hold 4 cards ♣. In first two cases, why didn't he lead his 4 cards suit. That was to say, his longest suit was ♠. If he was 4-3-3-3, why didn't he le...

Online training: Please remember to detect the honors beforehand !!!

This deal happened in our weekly online training last Monday. I couldn't concentrate my attention due to the lack of card sense online. Rookie mistake should be mentioned here. Board 13 Vul: Both Dealer: North East West 1NT 2♣ 2♡ 4♡ Lead: ♠7 South led ♠7 while North followed ♠J. And I won with the ♠Q. Now what's your plan? ♠7 seemed to be doubleton. Firstly, you couldn't avoid to lose 1♠, 1♢ and 1♣ at least. In other word, you must make a right guess in who had ♡Q. For me, due to the leading, I had supposed South hold long ♡ and he hadn't led trump, so I just played casually, cashing ♡K, then ♡J->♡2->♡5->♡Q... Oops... Doing some detection first to find more clues might be a better choose. Sending out ♢ first and whatever who won, he had no choice but to return ♢ or ♠. I could win in hand. Crossing to table with ♣K. And now the distribution was clear. If one A for each, now it was your guess time, n...

My Small Bliss

Search This Blog